No. 3 Clemson hopes to dodge upset at NC State

Wednesday

Sep 18, 2013 at 11:53 PM

While Clemson isn't making their previous trip to North Carolina State in mid-November of 2011 the main topic of discussion, that 37-13 loss while the Tigers were riding high still lingers. "I believe (this team) is very different," Tajh Boyd said.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

Players and coaches are regularly very adept at putting their most recent game quickly in the rearview mirror and focusing solely on what's ahead.But talk has been prevalent this week regarding one that has been over and done for almost two years now, and it's not just the media dredging up the past in searching for an interesting story line.While Clemson players aren't making their previous trip to North Carolina State in mid-November of 2011 the main topic of discussion, that embarrassing 37-13 loss while the Tigers were riding high still lingers.Senior quarterback Tajh Boyd was in a car with senior starting linebacker Quandon Christian earlier this week when Christian broached that very topic.“I believe (this team) is very different,” Boyd said. “Quandon just kind of brought it up as we were riding home. He said he felt different about this team and felt we'd grown as a program and as players.“Just this week of practice alone was very encouraging, guys were dialed in. When we step on that field there's nothing else that matters except football. That's something that's been preached and coached to us and I think all the guys really understand that.”The reason that debacle at Carter-Finley Stadium remains fresh fodder is it is really the last time Clemson tripped itself up in losing a game it had no business doing so. The last time it had “pulled a Clemson,” as the saying has gone with even Boyd being asked about that dubious tag in an extended ESPN GameDay feature prior to the season opener against Georgia.The Tigers had already been upset two games prior in a loss to Georgia Tech, but were still 9-1 and ranked seventh nationally with an ACC Atlantic Division title clinched and bigger dreams remaining on the horizon. Since that 2011 defeat at N.C. State, Clemson has lost four times in 18 games with all four coming to ranked teams (Florida State, West Virginia and twice against South Carolina).“We just didn't handle business when we went up there,” Boyd said. “We had already clinched the division and I think we got a little lackadaisical. I just feel like we weren't a very mature team in that situation. We just couldn't handle success and I think that's the biggest thing you learn throughout your career, not so much how to handle adversity, but how to handle success. Coach (Dabo) Swinney has done a great job making us understand what that means for us.”Clemson enters Thursday night's game ranked third by the Associated Press and is a nearly two-touchdown favorite over a Wolfpack team that features first-year freshmen (Matt Dayes and Marques Valdes-Scantling) as their leading rusher and receiver and a quarterback, Pete Thomas, who inherited the starting job due to an injury in the opener.N.C. State's depth chart for its secondary lists two seniors, four sophomores and four freshmen among the 10 players.“I just laugh when people say games are going to be a 'trap game,' ” Clemson left tackle Brandon Thomas (Dorman) said. “I don't really pay any attention to that and whether they want to say that or not, we've got to go play.”How about when the last trip to N.C. State is brought up?“We have to mention it, but it's not something we're focused on going into this game,” Thomas said. “We're a different team and I think everybody will see that. The younger guys didn't experience it like we did and we know that feeling being in that type of situation and now being around us they know it's something serious and we can't take this game lightly.“(N.C. State) was better than us that day, but I feel like we learned a lot from that game and that helped us get to where we are now.”

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